Meet Extra Place, the Semi-Secret, "Never Open to the Public" Performance Space Underneath the Old CBGB

Well, it's not that secret--both The Fader and the CMJ Music Marathon have already made use of Extra Place (we've been there before, too), the new private, "never open to the public" performance space that is located on, wait for it...Extra Place, the blind alley off 1st Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery. The street has a long history--see, for instance, this iconic photo of the Ramones "standing alongside a wrecked car in a garbage-strewn alley," as Forgotten New York's Kevin Walsh once put it. Lately, both Bespoke Chocolates and Montana Knox Apparel have moved into the tiny, crowded dead end. And now comes Extra Place, the venue, here to revive the "renegade spirit of the Bowery," complete with a CBGB "shrine" containing the "wall and sink from original CBGB bathroom (odor not included)." Anyway this place isn't exactly meant for regular humans but if you were to get in, this is what you would see:

It's a spacious 4,400 sq. ft spread, run by the Max's Kansas City Company, who are to the original Max's Kansas City more or less what the John Varvatos store upstairs is to the original CBGB. That said, it's been a good spot for shows so far, when they've been kind enough to let us stop by. Find it right here: